34 
THE MODERN L1TEBARY HISTORY OF HINDTTSTiN. 
[§ 103 . 
CHAPTER V. 
THE MTJGHAL COUET. 
103. the poet and bard Chhem, of Dal’maQ, 
district Ray Bareli. FI. 1530. 
He attended the court of the emperor Humayun (1530—1540). 
He is possibly the same as a poet Khem of Bundel’khand mentioned 
by Sib Siijgh. Cf. Nos. 87 and 311. 
104 . TT^* , srn?s the emperor Ah 9 bar . Reigned 
1556 to 1605 A.E. 
We may now glance at the brilliant court of the emperor Ah’bar 
(B. 1542) and the constellation of poets which shone there. Most of the 
foregoing authors, from Malik Muhammad (No. 31) downwards, were 
contemporaries of this king, who was so celebrated a patron of learning. 
It may be noted that the reign of the emperor Ak’bar nearly coincided 
with that of the English queen Elizabeth, and that the reigns of 
both these monarchs were signalised by an extraordinary outburst of 
literary vigour; nor, indeed, if Tul’si Das and Sur Das were compared 
with Shakespeare and Spenser would the Indian poets be found very 
far behind. In addition to the following poets, Tan Sen (No. 60) 
and Sur Das (No. 37) also attended his court. Particulars about them 
have been given in the previous chapter. 
Ak’bar’s claim as a Hindi author is founded only on a few 
detached verses, in which he signs himself as Akabbar Ray . Possibly 
these were really written by Tan Sen. (See No. 60.) 
105. Raja Today Mat, the KhattrJ. 
B. 1523. 
The celebrated minister of the emperor Ak’bar. He is wrongly 
called a Panjabi, because the Ma’asiru’l Umar a says he was born at 
Lahaur. He was, however, really born at Lahar’pur, in Audh. (See 
Ain-i-Akbari , Blochmann’s translation, p. 620.) 
